Monthly Archives: February 2010

I finally got around to disassembling the exhaust system of the bus, with the intention of boiling out and refurbishing the heat exchangers. It took me two beers and a few hours of squirming underneath the bus to get the (really) tight bolts out of the way and I got the muffler and exhaust system out eventually, sans three bolts. I dropped off the pipes at this place called L&M Stripping, which will strip out the rust, gunk, and the burnt oil residue that coats the inner walls of the heater boxes that my lucky passengers are inhaling if I choose to operate the heater. Hopefully it goes well. The next stop is getting them hi-temp ceramic coated. I’m scurred of putting everything back together, especially from what I read about exhaust leaks. I don’t really know my way around cars – with the Bentley guide as my bible, I just hacked at it with my socket wrench and put my faith in bahala na si Batman. Hopefully it goes well!

Today’s sunset will be my last in Manila for this month, as I’m scheduled to fly out in a few hours back to soggy San Francisco. It was a good run. Despite all the chaos in the grit of the third world, there will always be something beautiful out there to pick out, and take home with you.

And then you quietly realise that there really is no such thing as home – because you take it with you wherever you may come, and you find it wherever you may go.

Took the car out for a long drive to Pampanga to finally visit Alexis. Armed with vague instructions (and Firefox in offline mode), I actually had no problem finding the place. It was a small cemetery, and I found their family vault (the largest in the area) emblazoned with “Tioseco – Pamintuan”.

It took me a while to confirm that it was the right one, since I couldn’t find his name plate. I always replayed in my head what it would be like to see it – but this time it was going to be for real. My heart always thought about the vagueness of its loss, about the disconnect of my reality, of my distance. And here I was, two hours away from the city, no further away from my friend than I had ever wished to be. Then I saw a little prayer card, tucked into the corner of a picture frame.

I stood under the sun for awhile, my head against the dusty black gate, trying to transform my grief into some form of acceptance. That I wished the universe to always give us the strength to overcome our losses, and the gift to love the world to whom we truly belong.

The hamster wheel is starting to spin faster, with less steps to hang on to. I mean, shit, it’s only a spreadsheet. Can you imagine taking over the world? I’m trying very hard to convince myself that anything other than aiming for total world dominance, is boring.